


madly the sea pushes upon the land

by Ro29



Series: "Be the Rarepair content you want to see in the world" [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Cody Helps, Cuddling, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post-battle comforting, References to Rishi, Sparring, and the fears that come with that :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27547327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29
Summary: “I don’t think that counts as sparring.” Echo hears, and he places the voice, and that specific tone of amusement, quickly.
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | Echo/CT-27-5555 | Fives | ARC-5555/CC-2224 | Cody
Series: "Be the Rarepair content you want to see in the world" [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022017
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69
Collections: Echo&Fives





	madly the sea pushes upon the land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Everything_or_Anything](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everything_or_Anything/gifts).



> This one is all Ace's fault im ljdsjfksj 
> 
> title is from walt whitman's 'out of the cradle endlessly rocking'

“I don’t think that counts as sparring.” Echo hears, and he places the voice, and that specific tone of amusement, quickly.

Commander Cody’s right, they aren’t really sparring, at least, not anymore.

You could, technically, call this a stalemate, two pins that give no opportunities to either side. Leave them on the mat with nowhere to move so long as no one surrenders.

In reality, Fives and Echo have been lying like this for long enough that even the excuse of stubbornness falls short.

It _had_ started off as a spar originally, both of them needing to be taken out of their heads a little, needing the bone-deep exhaustion that came from sparring after an exhausting campaign. And somewhere between the fifth or eighth round Echo had started shaking hard enough to slip and Fives had pinned him, a steady solid weight above and protecting him, until he could breathe again.

Fives had breathed with him until Echo’s breathing was steady again and Echo had stayed like that, letting Fives place himself between him and everything, until the trembling in Fives' hands stopped.

The training rooms aren’t often used immediately after a campaign, not until troopers have had time to check on each other and clean up.

Echo and Fives had used the fresher and then beelined straight to the training rooms, and by now, they’d been going for so long that anyone else who had been here had left. So Echo had felt comfortable enough to flip them over, curl into Fives with a half hearted attempt at a pin.

They’d stayed like that for a while, Echo wasn’t sure just how long, until now.

Echo turns his head to look up at the Commander, and Commander Cody is smirking, leaning against the wall. But he must see something in the way Echo and Fives hold each other, maybe in the lines of their bodies, maybe even in their eyes. Because his brow furrows and his smirk slips away.

Fives shifts, grips tighter around Echo’s middle, presses a fleeting kiss to his cheek and then looks up at the Commander. His smile is brittle around the edges, though Echo can only tell because it’s the same one Gives always gets when he sees something that reminds him of the rest of Domino.

“Commander Cody, Sir.”

There’s a beat as the Commander studies the two of them. Echo shifts, hand clenching tight around Fives’ wrist and then relaxing, repeating the movement over and over again. Fives doesn’t move, just looks up at the Commander with that same smile.

Echo blinks slow, looks up to meet the Commanders eyes and bites at his cheek, he’s still too jittery, despite sparing more times than he probably should’ve with Fives, still too present in his head, thinks Fives is too.

He looks down, catches Fives gaze, titles his head. Fives blinks, bites his lip and narrows his eyes, nods and Echo sighs, presses a kiss to the junction of Fives’ neck and shoulder, looks up to the Commander again.

The Commander is watching them, almost wary but not quite, something dark in his eyes, what might be understanding. Echo doesn’t know.

He wets his lips, curls his hand tight into a fist, doesn’t register Fives stopping him until their hands are tangled together. He sighs, listens to the beat of Fives heart, feels the steady rise and fall of his chest and meets the Commander’s eyes.

Asks, because he has always had difficulty thinking things through when he’s decided it’ll be a good idea — always been too reckless and eager — with a voice that doesn’t tremble.

“Mind showing us what a spar looks like then Commander?”

The Commander gives them an unreadable look and is silent for long enough that Echo thinks he’ll say no.

He nods though and pushes off the wall, “Alright then troopers, on your feet.”

They stand, untangle from each other with only a little difficulty, as Echo finds it hard to let go of Fives and keep himself steady. Fives leans towards him as they separate and when Echo looks up he sees Commander Cody tracking the movement.

He still can’t read the Commander’s eyes.

Commander Cody, steps on to the mat and nods at them, settles lightly into a ready stance, says simply, “Echo first.”

Echo feels the warm weight of Fives leave his side as Fives steps back, sits on the nearby benches. Breathes through the unreasonable spike of fear, settles into a ready stance.

The Commander raises an eyebrow and Echo has never been one to think things through enough, has always had Fives to hold him back and steady him, keep him out of trouble.

He lunges forwards, quick and vicious.

He goes down hard, and rolls. The Commander pins him, and Echo kicks out, twists until he breaks it, rolls to a knee and pushes up, lunges forward.

He goes down a little harder than before, and the pin this time, is tight, keeps him down. He blinks up at the Commander, and his eyes are calculating.

“Three spars,” the Commander says evenly.

Echo blinks, frowns. The Commander huffs, “Three spars each, then we’re done, you both are already near the end of your tether.”

Echo shrugs, nods, it’s better than he’d hoped for. He’s grateful though, the Commander is good at taking a _vod_ out of their head, and they need that right now, after that shitshow of the campaign.

He gets up, breathes, feels the buzz of his blood and the haze setting into his head and falls into a ready stance.

He feints a lunge forward this time, turns at the last second and sweeps a kick under the Commander's legs, dodges.

The Commander smiles.

* * *

There’s a thud as Fives hits the mat, struggles in vain against the pin and slumps as the Commander calls the five count.

Echo takes a sip of his water as Commander Cody helps Fives up, watches through tired eyes as the Commander runs through the checks for injuries.

Fives grunts as the Commander — _Cody,_ Echo’s hazy mind says — presses on his shoulder and Cody hums, “You’re gonna be bruised, but nothing broken or sprained.”

Fives huffs, “Thanks.” He says and it’s only a _little_ sarcastic.

Echo laughs softly, winces at the feeling of what will _definitely_ be a bruise and sighs, still feeling like he’s drunk just enough of something to be buzzed.

Cody smirks, flicks his eyes to Echo, “You’re both good, though you might’ve been better if you hadn’t already worn each other down to the thread.”

Unspoken is the knowledge that what Fives and Echo had been trying to do was work each other out of their own heads.

(The Commander, Echo knows, won’t know why. It wouldn’t be part of the reports. But they needed this, the two of them, because otherwise they would have ended up doing a lot worse than curling together as they shook. Might’ve ended up needing to piece themselves back together.

Losing each other has always been too big of a fear, after Rishi.)

Echo snorts, tilts his head back against the wall and breathes, feels as someone settles next to him. He opens his eyes a little to check who it is, gets his eye barely open before giving up, his head feeling fuzzy and worn out.

There’s the soft sound of shifting fabric and a groan as someone — Fives, by the way he sounds like he’s just been run over by a speeder — lays down in his lap and Echo huffs. Shifts his arm enough that his hand lays in the tangles of Fives hair.

Fives hums, curls and settles with a soft huff.

There’s the sound of quiet chuckling, and when Echo finally manages to force his eyes open, Cody is staring at the two of them with something soft in his eyes.

Echo gives him a small smile, tilts his head to the side, raises an eyebrow. Cody snorts, walks over with quiet steps, “C’mon,” he murmurs, “let’s go, put some ice on that shoulder and get you two some rest.”

Fives wrinkles his nose, hums in thought as if debating whether or not it’s worth it to move.

Echo pinches at his hand, nudges him. Fives hisses, curls in on himself more and glares up at him. Echo raises an eyebrow and Fives rolls his eyes, murmurs something under his breath, but gets up slowly.

Cody huffs softly, eyes glinting with something Echo can’t decipher. Echo weighs his options for less than a second before he pushes forward, only pausing long enough to make sure Fives was steady on his own two feet.

(It’s become a joke between Fives and him, that everyone seems to think Echo is the one who is quiet and intelligent and careful, always thinking things through before he does them.

He rarely gives things enough thought, he’s just quieter about it than Fives is.)

He meets Cody halfway, and when he pulls back from the kiss Cody is looking at him consideringly. Raises an eyebrow and looks past Echo to where Fives is standing. Echo can feel it when Fives presses forward, drapes his weight across Echo’s back, and settles his head on Echo’s shoulder.

Cody laughs quietly, leans forward to give Fives a kiss, and when he pulls back, Echo presses in to steal another. Cody hums, gentles them down, “ _Ice_ ,” he tells them both, “and _rest_.”

Echo presses forward into _keldabe_ , breathes and shakes with it, feels the gentle kiss Fives places to his neck. Let’s the last of the trembling anxiety leach out of him, the exhausted haze of his mind quieting.

The Commander has always been the best at taking a _vod_ out of their head.

Cody might just be the one who helps Echo and Fives slip back into theirs, steady and sure, afterwards.

**Author's Note:**

> They make me hhhhhh i wanna hug them all.
> 
> If you want to find me other places I have a [writing tumblr](https://rose-blooms-red.tumblr.com) and a [fandom tumblr](https://themessofthecentury.tumblr.com)
> 
> Please come yell at me about Star Wars and DC!


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